Powell

The California Child Day Care Facilities Act (Health & Saf. Code, § 1596.70 et seq.) requires family day-care homes for children to maintain liability insurance or, alternatively, to maintain a file of affidavits stating that each “parent has been informed that the family day care home does not carry liability insurance or a bond according to standards established by the state. . . . These affidavits shall be on a form provided by the [state] and shall be reviewed at each licensing inspection.” (§ 1597.531, subd. (a), italics added.) At the initial licensing stage, the Department of Social Services (DSS) is required to make an announced site visit prior to issuance of the license. (§ 1597.55, subd. (a).) Each time a license is renewed, DSS is required to make an unannounced site visit. (§ 1597.55, subd. (b).)

Despite these legislative directives, we conclude that when DSS renews a license without making the required inspection and without thereby determining that the home is out of compliance with section 1597.531, the immunity of section 818.6 of the Government Code shields DSS from liability to a child thereafter injured at an uninsured home. We therefore affirm a…